Mobile phones designed mainly for gaming are not the most abundant in the Android landscape, but this is no excuse for not being a select group of brands committed to what is known as ‘gaming smartphones.’ Red Magic is one of those brands, and it has been betting on the gamer segment for several generations. And we have spent a few weeks with the latest generation: the Nubia Red Magic 6. Like its previous brothers, power and multimedia waste are its main assets.
Design: less aggressive and with high-quality materials
The ‘gaming’ style in the devices intended for the ‘gamer’ public determines that aggressive lines and strident colors mark its design, and LEDs light up in different shades. The Red Magic 6 does not shy away from these qualities but does not look too different from what we could define as a ‘normal mobile.’
The mobile that occupies our analysis table bets on the double glass face and the solid aluminum frame. It is a design that offers a feeling of high quality and a certain fragility. Especially since its rear face is smooth and polished except for the upper rectangular module slips in the hand as if it were smeared with oil. Given the dimensions of the Red Magic 6, it’s all too easy for it to slip out of your hands inadvertently.
As much as mobile for gamers, Red Magic has not risked too much with the phone’s design beyond creating an original pattern for the back, including a central band with the brand’s logos and settling the colored LED lights on the sides of the main area. These lights characterize the phone and can also be configured as a notification alert (somewhat useless if the phone is not placed face down on the table).
Screen: once you try 165 Hz, the rest seems little
The front of our protagonist is well used and without cuts of any kind: Nubia maintains symmetrical frames, leaving space below and above. In the upper area, the front camera, the lighting, proximity, and the call headset are anchored, which acts as a secondary speaker.
The technology chosen for the screen is AMOLED, an organic panel that guarantees better contrast and pure blacks. Nothing to object to at this point, not even in saturation: even though something saturated comes standard, the screen options offer very successful panel customization. The sRGB color mode is the best choice (the P3 Color Gamut slightly enhances the saturation in exchange for a broader spectrum).
Red Magic 6
The large screen and 6.8 inches offer great immersion in multimedia content. The chosen resolution, Full HD + (2,400 x 1,080 pixels), is sufficient but somewhat fair for the phone category. In addition, the Nubia Red Magic 6 configures the density at 360 dpi, which achieves a large resizing of icons and interfaces.
The highlight of the screen is its very high refresh rate: 165 Hz. This data is impressive on paper, but it is even more so when the screen is turned on, and the finger wanders over the interface: its fluidity and speed in the animations leave you speechless. Words. A notable improvement is noticeable, but only in the interface: we have not found apps or games capable of refreshing the screen with a frequency of 165 Hz. And there is another very noticeable drawback: consumption skyrockets. At 165 Hz, the autonomy is significantly lower.
Nubia RedMagic 6: sound and games
One would expect the Nubia Red Magic 6, focusing on gaming, to drop audio a bit. But it is quite the opposite. Every good gamer wants to have excellent sound for his games. Why? In an FPS, you have to know where the sound is coming from; if it’s near or far, you have to chat… Then you need to have a device that follows it. And that is the case! We have a device made to please you, and not just with headphones. It was intended for the right sound from the beginning.
He can restore the sound in high-resolution audio, wired, and wireless audio, thanks to its Bluetooth 5.1. Natively, it also supports DTS X Ultra. It is the equivalent of Dolby Atmos, a 3D sound format. Suffice to say, and you’ll love it.
Of course, you need proper headphones or earphones to take advantage of this type of rendering. Either they are connected with Jack 3.5 or Bluetooth HiRes Audio. We tested the device with the headphones. Sony WH-1000XM4 and WF-1000XM3 headphones, the brand’s high-end headphones, listen to songs in ultra-HD activated Amazon Music AC. The result is simply extra. Ultra-HD, FLAC, and DTS X bring you an excellent music experience. It is nice! You can achieve 24bit 48Hz FLAC sound quality.
The Nubia RedMagic 6 is also equipped with 3D stereo speakers. When you listen to music, play games, or watch a movie in real-time, without headphones, the sound will come out on the right and left of the screen. The stereo works very well, and the interpretation is excellent. But pushed a little tricky, it will boost in treble even if it’s still limited. Small, with headphones and direct sound, it is up-to-date.
As for the sound in the communication, the interpretation will depend mainly on the network but also the telephone of your interlocutor. But frankly, I have no complaints. Its clear, very distinct, and excellent understanding by the person at the end. There is not much to complain about.
Nubia RedMagic 6 : audio specifications
- Hi-Res: Yes. Hi-Res Audio, Wireless Hi-Res Audio,
- Supported formats: CAA, CAA+ (best suited for low bitrates, 2003), AMR-NB (optimized design for lyrics, 1998), AMR-WB (enhanced version of NB), FLAC (accessible lossless format, used for HD streaming, 2001), MP3, MIDI, WAV, WMA, MONO (lossless), OGG…
- Audio recording formats: AAC, AMR, WAV
- Miscellaneous: 3.5mm audio jack, DTS X (also used to listen to HD music over Bluetooth without quality loss), confirmed 3D stereo speakers…
We’ll cover two additional points of phone use here: gaming and video playback, both of which require a good-quality screen.
Let’s start with gaming because the Nubia RedMagic 6 is made for. And let’s be clear, this is the phone of excesses! Its 20:9 aspect ratio will offer you a much better viewing angle than 16:9. This is an important point for FPS. To accompany it, count on a FHD + AMOLED screen (2400 x 1080 p) in 6.8 ”. It also has a brightness of 630 Nits (630 candles per m²), which is not bad, although there are better.
Dedicated to gaming, the Nubia RedMagic 6 has a 20:9 screen.
And for everything to work, you need what you need. It has the most powerful SOC of the moment, the octocoral Qualcomm® Snapdragon ™ 888, with a speed of 2.84 GHz. Thanks to it, it can manage 5G, Wi-Fi 6 E… It incorporates a Kryo 680 CPU and an Adreno 330 GPU. The RAM should follow. And that is the case. RedMagic opted for LPDDR5 memory, one and a half times faster than LPDDR4+. A massacre, we tell you!
